Why Real-Time Bidding Is Going To Completely Change The Equation For Mobile Advertising

Real-time bidding is to digital advertising what high-frequency trading is to Wall Street. Computerized, algorithm-driven trading allows for the quick buying of ad impressions according to pre-set parameters. Desktop programmatic buying of display is already hugely popular. The coming impact on mobile stands to be even more significant.

RTB is a style of programmatic buying in which digital advertising opportunities are auctioned off in real-time. It should allow ad buyers to take full advantage of mobile's virtues — the ability to target potential customers according to demographics, location, and context. RTB should help sellers effectively monetize the huge, and growing, mobile audience.

In a recent report from BI Intelligence, we explain what has kept mobile advertising prices depressed and how targeted RTB buying may in the long run help solve the mobile advertising CPM problem, detail RTB's recent impact and successes on ad buyers and sellers, examine the potential obstacles to its widespread adoption, and look at how the holy grail of mobile advertising — simultaneous control, scale and efficiencies — may be reached through its use.